olivemagazine
type: channel
link: https://www.olivemagazine.com
date: 2026-01-26T16:58:24.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: 12 Scottish staycations for foodies
items: Best unique UK holiday cottages for foodies
items: Best restaurants in San Sebastián: where locals eat and drink
items: Best hotels in the Cotswolds
items: Foodie road trip in Ribble Valley, Lancashire
items: Best Scottish ski resorts
items: Virtual travel experiences for foodies
items: Foodie road trip in Morocco
items: Best back-to-the-land foodie experiences
items: Foodie road trip in Somerset
items: Foodie road trip in Portland
items: Foodie road trip in Mauritius
items: Balearic Islands: foodie guide
items: Foodie road trip in Australia's McLaren Vale wine region
items: Foodie road trip in Tasmania
items: Foodie road trip in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia
items: Melbourne foodie guide: where locals eat and drink
items: Foodie road trip in Chiang Mai, Thailand
items: The Dunstane Houses, Edinburgh: hotel review
items: Foodie road trip in Uzes, France

12 Scottish staycations for foodies
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T16:58:24.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Travel
subject: Travel Scotland
subject: UK
subject: Great Getaways
description: From a whisky bar with rooms on the banks of the River Spey to beachfront barbecues at an Elie inn, we’ve found the best foodie sleepovers in Scotland
encoded: Looking for Scottish holidays? Read about our staycation ideas below for all sorts of Scottish getaways – from staying in the heart of Cairngorms National Park to gin tasting in Edinburgh. For more travel inspiration, check out our picks of the best hotels in Scotland and the best Scottish whisky distilleries to visit. Scottish holidays for foodies Discover local produce on the Isle of Skye Skye, the largest island in the Inner Hebrides, boasts a rich natural larder of ingredients and historic traditions of preservation using local techniques. Chef Calum Montgomery champions these at Edinbane Lodge, a converted 16th-century hunting lodge whose restaurant is dedicated to the island’s crofts, seas and artisan producers. Discover more from Calum about what makes the Isle of Skye cuisine so special. Broadford’s Gasta transforms the island’s ingredients into gourmet pizzas like the Ochd topped with Stornoway black pudding, plum and apple chutney and fresh chillies. And the menu at the secluded Stein Inn, the oldest inn on Skye, focusses on sustainable seafood from the Lochbay shores, with a choice of more than 130 different Scottish whiskies. Go glamping in the Cairngorms Inshriach is a 200-acre mini Highland estate in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park. It’s home to a gin distillery where owner Walter Micklethwait concocts small-batch Speyside gins in an award-winning shed. The estate's elegant country house is perfect for a large family gathering (sleeping up to 18, with or without a chef), but for a back-to-nature experience there's a cluster of quirky glamping options peppered throughout the tangled woodland. The four off-grid beds for two include a yurt hunkered into the hillside with views over the River Spey to the mountains beyond. The bonkers Beer Moth is a converted 1950s fire truck, now kitted out with a Victorian double bed and wood burner. The quaint shepherd's hut is old-school romantic and cradled by juniper bushes (the key ingredient in gin – most …

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Best unique UK holiday cottages for foodies
type: item
date: 2025-02-25T12:01:28.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Travel
subject: UK
subject: Hotel guides
description: Stock up on local produce from farm shops, food boxes and artisan delis and make the most of fully equipped country kitchens. Cuddle up by the fire in Pembrokeshire, go foraging in Monmouthshire or hide out in a fishing village in Cornwall
encoded: Looking for holiday cottages by the sea in Cornwall? Want to hide away in a farm cottage in Wales? Check out our pick of self-catering accommodation for a UK staycation, complete with local recommendations for artisan food hampers, farm produce delivery boxes and nearby takeaways and delis. Pretend that one of these beautiful cottages are your own for the weekend. Cook a feast in the self-catered kitchens, go for long walks to get to know the local countryside and neighbours, or cuddle up by the fire and hide out in your very own foodie holiday cottage. Next discover the best walks in the UK, best romantic hotels for food lovers, the best UK spa hotels for food lovers and the best honeymoons for foodies. Best foodie holiday cottages in the UK Lavender Cottage, Norfolk – coastal cottage for six people Set just outside Burnham Market within sleepy rolling parkland, this flint-walled cottage is ideal for a weekend near the sea. It’s located down quiet and increasingly winding country lanes in a secluded corner of Norfolk where wildlife is abundant and the stars shine brightly at night. Inside Lavender Cottage you’ll find rustic farmhouse features like stone floors and a woodburning stove. But there’s also an abundance of modern comforts like the Everhot range which keeps the kitchen cosy, while also having an induction hob element – perfect for cooking pancakes on a Sunday morning. From your spot at the stove you can look out of the charming porthole window at the well-established garden, where there’s a great outdoor dining area, plus a pizza oven for the summer months. Sandy beaches are just a 15-minute drive away and, on your return, you can warm up from a dip in the sea in the cottage’s huge rolltop bath. There are plenty of local food highlights nearby including The White Horse in Brancaster Staithe where the focus is on local seafood. Or venture down the road to the coast for the best Sunday lunch around at The Hero in Burnham Overy Staithe. Sleeps six adults and…

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Best restaurants in San Sebastián: where locals eat and drink
type: item
date: 2024-08-07T09:00:38.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Guides
subject: Spain
subject: Travel
subject: Europe
subject: Cook Like A Local
subject: Local city guides
description: Sparkling white wine poured from a height, mounds of gooseneck barnacles and melt-in-the-mouth suckling pig with quince sauce – Spain’s coastal corner surely wins the prize for the world’s best bar crawl
encoded: Looking for the best restaurants in San Sebastian? Read our guide to the best places to eat and drink in Donostia San Sebastian. Including local favourites and must-visit haunts of Jose Pizarro (London's favourite Basque chef). From Michelin-starred restaurants to San Sebastian's best casual pintxo bars and bars to drink Basque txakoli wines. For more travel inspiration, check out our guide to the best Spanish food trips or travel across the border with our best French food trips. Jump to: Best restaurants in San Sebastián Best pintxo bars in San Sebastián Best bars in San Sebastián Best food shops in San Sebastián Where to stay in San Sebastián Best places to eat and drink in San Sebastián Michelin-starred restaurants in San Sebastián A picturesque port and resort on the Bay of Biscay, San Sebastián has notched up 16 Michelin stars. There are seven three-star restaurants across Spain and three of them are here: Akelarre, Martin Berasategui and Arzak, the bastion of chef Juan Mari Arzak. It has the second highest number of Michelin stars per square metre after Kyoto in Japan, and more than Paris. Jose Pizarro, London's favourite Basque restaurateur, loves Arzak. This three Michelin-starred restaurant continues to push the boundaries of Spanish food, turning it into art. It’s no wonder Arzak is included in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. A visit here will be one of the best food experiences you will ever have. The brightest in the constellation is Mugaritz. Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz’s insatiable appetite for pushing limits and unwavering loyalty to local ingredients and traditions results in a show-stopping tasting menu, with dishes like trompe l’oeil olives and beer, or perfect pork under autumn ‘leaves’. Read our extensive interview with Jessica Lorigo, head chef at Mugaritz. Topa Rowdy and colourful, all graffiti-covered walls, loud music and raw, recycled materials, the Basque-Latin American mash up tells the story of Basque immigration to Latin America. Try …

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Best hotels in the Cotswolds
type: item
date: 2024-02-22T09:30:22.000Z
subject: South West travel
subject: UK
subject: Travel
subject: Hotel guides
description: This quaint corner of England is home to cosy hotels and some culinary surprises, among them artisan Israeli baking, hip burger vans and fragrant Asian broths
encoded: Looking for where to stay in the Cotswolds? Want to find Cotswolds hotels for foodies? Check out our guide to the best places to eat, drink and stay in the Cotswolds.... The Cotswolds is all your chocolate-box fantasies rolled into one – honey-hued cottages, gardens brimming with hollyhocks huddled around duck-paddled ponds. The names are as pretty as the scenery: Moreton-in-Marsh, Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold. Even the local rare breeds (Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs) have a bonny ring. The Cotswolds is Cider with Rosie country: a bucolic idyll packaged for tourists who traipse here to mooch around antique shops and take afternoon tea. The Cotswolds is quintessentially quaint. It’s also unexpectedly vast. Count its counties: Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, plus corners of Wiltshire, Somerset, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. From north to south it’s a 100-mile schlep. Off-the-beaten-track is a concept the Cotswolds lost long ago, but its central belt – a lopsided oblong with Burford, Cheltenham, Stroud and Lechlade at the corners – does fly slightly below the radar. Check our our guide to the best restaurants in the Cotswolds for all the must visit places to eat and drink during your visit. For more travel inspiration, check out our guide to the best Scottish hotels, best UK boutique hotels, best UK spa hotels for food lovers or best European hidden gem hotels. Where to stay in the Cotswolds for foodies The Bell at Charlbury, Daylesford The newest of its stable of pubs with rooms, The Bell has all the hallmarks of a Daylesford bolthole: a commitment to local suppliers, largely British menu and cute motif (see the bell on plates, menus and staff T-shirts). The 17th-century building is home to a dozen cosy bedrooms, with a contemporary barn at the rear. There’s more to the pub than a smart market town boozer. Discreetly positioned behind the main building, The Barn serves weekend wood-fired feasting menus – rotisserie chicken, roasts, whole lobster. In summe…

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Foodie road trip in Ribble Valley, Lancashire
type: item
date: 2022-11-30T12:50:17.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: North West travel
subject: UK
subject: Travel
subject: Road trips
description: This bosky corner of Lancashire should be rammed but, for now, you can enjoy its posh hotpots, artisan cheeses and venison cobblers in peace
encoded: Looking for restaurants in Ribble Valley? Want to know where to eat in Clitheroe? Head on a foodie road trip through Ribble Valley and the Forest of Bowland, stopping off at country pubs, hotel estates and cream tea cafés. Many tourists still bypass Lancashire for the more obvious charms of the Lakes and its traditional rival, Yorkshire. They’re missing a trick. The Ribble Valley, most of which is in the Forest of Bowland (an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), is where you’ll find charming market town Clitheroe, with its tiny castle, a clutch of picture-perfect villages and a cast of inspirational chefs and food producers linked by a food trail. Read on for our picks of where to go in the Ribble Valley. Best restaurants in the Ribble Valley The Inn at Whitewell When Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon careered north on their gourmet road trip for BBC2’s The Trip, their first stop was the The Inn at Whitewell in Lancashire’s unspoilt Forest of Bowland. This rambling inn, its old stonework a tangle of creepers, is cradled by rolling sheep-speckled hills above the River Hodder. Inside, fires blaze and crackle in open grates, walls are crammed with hunting prints and men in tweed prop up the bar. You’re not going to stumble on it by accident, but the effort it takes to get here is worth it, as its many punters appreciate. Don't miss the classic Lancashire hotpot with pickled red cabbage and crusty bread. Beneath a wafer-thin lid of crispy potato the lamb is soft and doused in a buttery gravy, the shredded cabbage adds a sweet acidity that cuts through the richness. innatwhitewell.com Best food shops in the Ribble Valley Mrs Kirkham's farm shop Cheese is one of Lancashire’s oldest specialities. As far back as 1199 King John granted Preston a Royal Charter to hold an annual cheese fair. The rich grasslands on the edge of the Forest of Bowland (the name comes from the Norse Bu-land, meaning cattle land) are well-suited to dairy farming and have been dubbed Lancashire’s milk fiel…

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Best Scottish ski resorts
type: item
date: 2020-12-08T12:12:25.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Travel
subject: Travel Scotland
subject: UK
description: You don't have to leave the UK for a skiing holiday – head to Scotland instead and tuck into venison stew, hot chocolate and steaming bowls of cullen skink after a day on the mountain slopes, then curl up in a cosy chalet, gastro pub or family-friendly cottage
encoded: Looking for the best Scotland ski resorts? The Scottish mountains are beckoning. For more ski inspiration, check out our picks of the best ski destinations in Europe. True, the snow in Scotland hasn't always been as reliable as the Alps, but Scotland's ski resorts have been ploughing money into state-of-the-art snow-making technology in recent years. There are five main Scottish ski areas to choose from, two in the west (Glencoe and the Nevis Range) and three in the east in the Cairngorms National Park (Cairngorm Mountain, Glenshee and The Lecht). There are a few advantages to strapping on your skis in Scotland. Flexibility is one. If weather reports forecast a big dump of snow, you can hop on the sleeper and arrive at the slopes the next morning or pile into the car with your gear and drive north. Another is the range of outdoor activities on offer from winter (wonderland) walking to ice-climbing and sledging. And in terms of après-ski, fondue and tartiflette might not be on the menu but there are plenty of foodie highlights around: from cosy cafés dishing up bowls of steaming cullen skink to gastropubs serving hearty venison stews in front of an open fire and holiday cottages offering hampers stocked with local smoked salmon, homemade oatcakes and shortbread. This year might well be the time to swap the glühwein for a warming dram… The Scottish ski season, snow conditions allowing, stretches from December through to Easter (some ski areas open officially 19 December). Best of Scotland's ski resorts Glenshee Ski Centre – Scotland's largest ski resort Glenshee is the largest ski area in Scotland with 40km of pisted runs (a good mix of green, blue, red and black) spread over 2,000 acres, the most comprehensive network of lifts in the country (22 including three chairlifts), a ski and board school, and three cafés. The season kicks off on 19 December – guaranteed thanks to Snow Factory snowmaking machines. You can even stay in a chocolate box chalet nearby. Glenbeag C…

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Virtual travel experiences for foodies
type: item
date: 2020-04-07T10:55:22.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Travel
description: Take part in an online Japanese tea ceremony, rustle up fresh pasta using a YouTube video or enjoy a Swedish woodland feast from your armchair with these virtual travel experiences for foodies
encoded: Sweden – for a virtual wild food adventure Wander through woodlands with Michelin-starred chef Jacob Holmström, crouching down in the undergrowth as he prepares a forest broth with poached perch and broiled herb butter. Holmström is one of four chefs who have created a series of menus for Swedien's Edible Country project, highlighting the abundance of foraged food in the country's backyard – all 100 million acres of it. A DIY gourmet dining initiative, the original concept was that travellers could book a seat at a rustic outdoor table in one of 23 remote locations then cook dishes with ingredients they’ve sourced themselves from the surroundings (think smoked char, chanterelles, juniper berries and wood sorrel followed by acorn and hazelnut crumbs, with fruit and berry compote); a foraging guide and chef were optional extras. Until travel restrictions are lifted, however, you can go for a virtual woodland feast instead by watching the project’s films online – or, if you substitute some of the more local ingredients for those found in your own backyard, you can cook up a foraged Swedish feast at home using the recipes on the website. ediblecountry.visitsweden.com Champagne – for a virtual wine tour Soar over bucolic vineyards, watch grape-pickers at work, journey into the chalk-carved cellars where millions of bottles are aged then sweep down the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay where you'll find the headquarters of prestigious champagne houses such as Mercier and Moet et Chandon. All from the comfort of home, since this virtual tour of the Champagne region and its wineries is available online; if you have a pair of Google Cardboard goggles or virtual reality headset you can experience it in 3D. If it leaves you wanting to expand your knowledge, the Comité Champagne, which represents 16,000 growers and 340 champagne houses, also offers a free online course, the MOOC, for budding wine enthusiasts. This outlines the champagne making process, the terroir, history and eco…

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Foodie road trip in Morocco
type: item
date: 2020-03-03T13:17:10.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Africa
subject: Travel
description: Dodge donkeys in the souks, and piles of spices and vegetables in mountain markets, to track down slow-roasted lamb, coriander-spiked kebabs and sardines served with wedges of lemon
encoded: Looking for restaurants in Marrakech? Want to know where to eat in Fez? Travel writer Lucy Gillmore takes us on a foodie road trip through Morocco, stopping off at riad hotels, souks and street-food stalls. Marrakech Follow your nose from the Djemaa el-Fna, the mesmerising main square in Marrakech’s medina – its chaos and cacophony fed by a frenzy of hawkers, hustlers, henna tattoo artists and snake charmers – to Mechoui Alley. On the edge of a spider’s web of claustrophobic passageways and dark dead ends in the old quarter, the smoky aroma of slow-roasted lamb seeps out, drawing you in. It’s the lunchtime rush and vendors at the street-food stalls dish up tender strips of lamb, roasted in deep clay pits in the ground and devoured with bread, a sprinkling of cumin and salt, and sweet mint tea. Alongside this mechoui, another local speciality is tangia – urn-like clay pots stuffed with lamb, vegetables and olive oil, and slow-cooked over coals until the meat is falling off the bone – and a more niche delicacy: roast sheep’s head. It might be just a date stone’s throw from the stalls piled high with gaudily painted tagines and tourist trinkets but these are the authentic flavours of Marrakech. Flavours which, in this North African country, have their roots in French, Arabic and indigenous Berber culture. I’m hungry but I drag myself away, snaking through the medina to Le Trou au Mur, sleek sister restaurant of luxury riad hotel Le Farnatchi, where mechoui is also on the menu. I find the door and climb the stairs, emerging into a vibrant room ringed with lime-green banquettes, a vivid black-and-white-tiled floor and a roaring fire. Another set of stairs leads up to a roof terrace and tables with views over the magical muddle of the medina. The restaurant’s design might be starkly contemporary but its ethos is bedded in ancient traditions, the menu showcasing old family recipes passed down from generation to generation. It’s an eyeopener for diners who imagine Moroccan …

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Best back-to-the-land foodie experiences
type: item
date: 2020-02-18T08:24:33.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: UK
subject: Travel
description: From making your own cider at Kate Humble's Monmouthshire farm to learning how to run a smallholding and smoking your own mussels, here are the UK's very best back-to-the-land experiences
encoded: Wild Food Micro Festival, Aberdeenshire Charlie and Caroline Gladstone, of vintage homewares site Pedlars, and co-founders of The Good Life Experience festival in Wales, are hosting a series of four-night retreats, Camp Glen Dye, on their 30-000-acre Aberdeenshire estate this year. Think wild wellness, artisan crafts and, in June, Wild Food, a mix of fermentation, foraging, curing, smoking and local gin tasting mixed in among yomps through the hills, wild swimming, campfire sing-alongs and feasts cooked over fire. Pop-up 'supper clubs' will be conjured by the Free Company (known for its sell-out seasonal dinners on a farm near Edinburgh) with ingredients sourced from the estate's producers or foraged from the surrounding forest. Guest teachers will include River Cottage HQ chef Gill Meller, mushroom maestro Roger Philips and Anja and Jan Jacob Baak of Great Glen Charcuterie. Accommodation, scattered through the forest and on the banks of the River Dye, is in cute cabins and cottages, a vintage airstream caravan and converted sawmill. glendyecabinsandcottages.com Cider-making, Monmouthshire A decade on since TV presenter Kate Humble rescued a 100-acre Monmouthshire farm from the developers' clutches and set up her Humble By Nature rural skills centre there you can get your hands dirty dry stone walling, building a pizza oven or spending 24 hours up to your oxters in the lambing shed. Along with animal husbandry and traditional crafts many of the courses are food-focused from bread-making with Sam Wells of Hobbs House Bakery to curing and sausage-making with charcutier Graham Waddington and wild foraging with Liz Knight of Forage Fine Foods. If you’re a cider drinker, we recommend signing up for the cider-making course with James McCrindle. After a trip to a local orchard to gather apples it's back to the farm to wash, mill and press the fruit, followed by a tutored tasting. Make a weekend of it by booking into one of the Hayloft apartment, the Piggery (a traditional …

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Foodie road trip in Somerset
type: item
date: 2019-10-02T10:47:47.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: South West travel
subject: Travel
subject: UK
subject: Road trips
description: A vibrant community of producers is making this corner of the South West a hotbed for wild beer, raw-milk cheese, natural sparkling wine, cider brandy and apple pulp sourdough
encoded: Looking for restaurants in Somerset? Want to know where to eat in Bruton? Travel writer Lucy Gillmore takes us on a foodie road trip through Somerset, stopping off at all-natural ice-cream producers, field to fork estates and biodynamic vineyards. Westcombe Dairy Tom Calver flings open the doors of the cellar, a chilly cathedral of cheese, and introduces me, with a grin, to 'Tina the Turner'. Tina is the robotic machine turning the mould-dappled wheels of Westcombe Cheddar as they mature. The cavernous 'cave' was constructed after a trip to France when Calver saw, first-hand, a different approach to affinage, the ageing process. There's been cheesemaking on this family farm, Westcombe Dairy, hidden down a tangle of hedgerow-trimmed lanes in Somerset, for over a century. It all began in the 19th century when Edith Cannon created her legendary unpasteurised cheddar. Fast-forward through two world wars, the introduction of pasteurisation, the rise of the supermarket and demand for bland block cheddar, then press stop. This was when Tom's father, dairy farmer Richard Calver, jumped off the mass-market merry-go-round. Unearthing the old recipes, he steered the farm full circle. His father might have turned back the clock – but it was Tom, a chef in London until his apprenticeship at Neal’s Yard Dairy, who threw them all out. “Cheesemaking shouldn’t be done by the clock, it needs to be intuitive. It’s all about slowing down the process. Over the past 50 years everything has been speeded up and you no longer get the breadth of flavour." Mixing high-tech and old-school (his first cheese-smoker was an old phone booth), it's also a science. The cows bed down on sand topped with a dusting of straw for 'bacterial loading' of the udders - adding good bacteria to the raw milk. "We try to preserve the unique microbial make-up which gives the raw milk cheese its three dimensional character." It all starts with the cows, grass-grazed Holstein Friesians, of course – and the 'cow man,…

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Foodie road trip in Portland
type: item
date: 2019-08-27T09:58:43.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: North America
subject: Travel
description: Graze your way around this chilled-out American West Coast city via salted peanut butter brittle ice cream, rose petal and black pepper kombucha, and daikon, snow pea and radish flower salad
encoded: Looking for restaurants in Portland? Want to know where to eat in Central Eastside? Food and travel writer Lucy Gillmore takes us on a foodie road trip though Portland, stopping off at kombucha taprooms, farm-to-fork restaurants and gourmet doughnut stores. Cult comedy sketch show Portlandia shamelessly sends up Portland’s hippy image – it’s the place “where young people go to retire”, grow things, brew beer and join communes. This kooky corner of Oregon can seem almost horizontally laidback but that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of creative drive. You don’t become one of the culinary capitals of the USA by sitting around sipping ethically sourced, single-origin coffee. This one-time blue-collar town in the Pacific Northwest has been riding the wave of a foodie revolution for the past two decades. There’s now an artisan roaster on every corner, bean-to-bar chocolate makers and gourmet doughnut stores, grain-to-glass craft distillers, a slew of microbreweries, kombucha taprooms, and acres of farmers’ markets and food cart ‘pods’. It’s also home to more food festivals than you can shake a wooden spoon at, from the annual Cider Summit to the grandaddy of them all, Feast Portland, which takes place in September. Feast isn’t just a festival, it’s a self-proclaimed movement, an incubator of ideas with chefs, farmers, winemakers, brewers, artisan producers and restaurateurs coming together to celebrate and, this being Portland, raise money to help end hunger. Portland is a city with heart-and-soul food in spades. It’s also begun to attract similarly aligned brands from further afield as it veers from hippy to hipster. This autumn, Icelandic boutique hostel KEX will open its second property in Portland, while UK hotel group The Hoxton converted the city’s dilapidated 1906 Grove Hotel into a hip hangout last year. The Hoxton’s interiors are peppered with potted plants, exposed brickwork, low-slung velvet and leather seating, and artworks. Rooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows…

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Foodie road trip in Mauritius
type: item
date: 2019-05-21T09:44:13.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Africa
subject: Travel
description: The Indian Ocean island’s newest resort encourages guests to discover local flavours by visiting markets and supper clubs, trying shrimp croquettes, sticky tamarind sweets and homemade passion fruit aperitifs along the way
encoded: Looking for restaurants in Mauritius? Want to know where to eat in Port Louis? Food and travel writer Lucy Gillmore takes us on a foodie road trip though Mauritius, stopping off at sustainable hotels, roti stalls and fruit markets. Next find out our best honeymoons for foodies and best romantic getaways for food lovers. Ten minutes from the sleepy village of Clemencia, an organic smallholding is blanketed in thick, rubbery vegetation, a verdant tangle of coconut, banana, lychee, sugarcane and taro. It’s off the beaten track, and a million miles away from the clichéd, honeymoon images of Mauritius. There’s a makeshift shelter and mattress in a clearing, and red flags fluttering to ward off bad spirits and wild boars. “I love being up here on my own,” says young farmer, Denis Aristide. “I’ve just planted some chilli bushes and curry plants,” he says, as he points to some spindly stalks. He is also gradually replacing the sugarcane with taro plants, because he can get a better price for the root vegetable. Crouching down, he shakes a plant free from the soil. The leaves are one of the ingredients in a traditional Mauritian curry, the speckled stalks used to make very snackable taro chips. Denis, who farms without pesticides, supplies Salt, the new community-centred, food-focussed, environmentally savvy resort on the east coast (where I’m staying) with taro leaves. He’s also the head bartender. One of the hotel’s aims is to get guests out meeting Mauritian people, and this window into Denis’s life adds an extra dimension to my stay. I pull up a stool at the rooftop bar and watch as he whips up one of the hotel’s signature cocktails: No Smoke Without Fire. Each drink comes with a background story relating to the island’s heritage. In this case, I learn that sugarcane was once the most important crop on the island. And that, as far back as 1639, Dutch settlers used it to produce an alcoholic drink called arrack. My own, very 21st-century Mauritian tipple is a mix of oak-a…

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Balearic Islands: foodie guide
type: item
date: 2019-02-13T15:10:53.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Europe
subject: Spain
subject: Travel
description: Head to the foodie Balearic islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza. Here you can try homemade fig jam, soft sugary buns and sobrasada for breakfast before exploring the islands' vineyards and olive groves
encoded: Looking for places to eat in the Balearics? Here are our favourite restaurants, hotels and foodie tours to take in the Balearics. The best foodie spots include farm-to-table restaurants, luxury hotels and cookery classes in Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza. Mallorca: foodie hotels and things to do Son Brull – best foodie farmhouse in Mallorca Guests at gastronomic bolthole Son Brull can ask the kitchen to pack a gourmet picnic if they’re heading out to hike or bike around the surrounding hills. This elegant finca, or farmhouse, in the foothills of the Serra de Tramuntana, dates back to the 12th century but the approach to food is bang up to date. The kitchen garden, where chef Rafel Perello sources the ingredients for his inventive menus and cookery classes, brims with home-grown herbs, salad leaves and vegetables while the trees surrounding the hotel are laden with oranges, lemons and figs. The hotel also has its own organic vineyard; pair its wines with dinner in the fine-dining restaurant, 365, where seasonal eight-course tasting menus showcase local Mallorcan ingredients. More casual, bistro-style, dining can be had in the bar (with its ancient olive press) during the winter or on the terrace in sunnier months. Doubles from £361, check availability at booking.com The elegant finca, or farmhouse, in the foothills of the Serra de Tramuntana Culinary Tours – best food tour in Mallorca For a private olive oil tasting or a tailor-made tour of Mallorca Deborah Pina Zitrone, of Deborah's Culinary Island, is the woman to call. Mallorca-born but with a French mother, the former lawyer now creates off-the-beaten track itineraries for visitors who want to explore the hidden corners and cultural heritage of this well-known island. Olive oil is her passion, however, and she has trained as an Extra Virgin Olive Oil sommelier. She is also a private chef, and offers cookery classes and workshops on Mallorcan gastronomy between stints as a culinary guide for guests at gourmet bolthol…

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Foodie road trip in Australia's McLaren Vale wine region
type: item
date: 2018-10-09T10:01:13.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Australasia
subject: Travel
description: Drive just 45 minutes south from Adelaide to discover South Australia’s best-kept secret – a laid-back land of eccentric winemakers, abundant farmers’ markets, wild beaches and gourmet boutique hotels
encoded: Want to tour Mclaren Vale wineries? Hop on one of Mclaren Vale's wine tours and visit Australia's wine region south of Adelaide... Until now the Fleurieu peninsula has been South Australia’s best-kept secret. In Adelaide, the state capital, locals tend to innocently point tourists towards the Barossa and Clare Valleys, or to tourist hot spot Kangaroo Island, which dangles off the peninsula’s southern tip. Yet with Fleurieu (pronounced floo-ree-oh) just a 45-minute drive away – virtually Adelaide’s backyard – they’re starting to get wise. The Fleurieu has a Mediterranean climate, laid-back vibe, wild, windswept beaches (you might recognise the glorious sweep of Maslin Beach from Russell Crowe’s film The Water Diviner), swathes of silvery olive groves, a clutch of field-to-fork eateries and farmers’ markets along with more than 70 boutique wineries. Within the peninsula, McLaren Vale is the birthplace of the South Australian wine industry and home to some of the world’s oldest grapevines. This is shiraz country, the vineyards rolling right down to the beach. The cooling winds flowing from the Mount Lofty Ranges to the coast also create the perfect climate for cabernet sauvignon and grenache. Mclaren Vale Wineries What is McLaren Vale's USP? Most of the cellar doors are family owned, not commercial. Whether they’re the old brigade or the new vanguard, they’re all one-offs. D'Arenberg Wine-making is full of complexities. McLaren Vale’s larger-than-life winemaker, Chester Osborn, pondered how to showcase this strange alchemy. His response was the d’Arenberg Cube, a dazzling glass and steel structure that has been dubbed ‘Willy Wonka’s wine factory’. A wonderfully bonkers box of a building, it materialises, Tardis-like, out of the vines like a half-finished Rubik’s Cube. As you approach, eyes entranced by an optical illusion at the entrance, soft music (activated by weather stations among the vines) lures you in. Inside the five-storey attraction, restaurant and tasting r…

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Foodie road trip in Tasmania
type: item
date: 2018-09-11T10:14:02.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Australasia
subject: Travel
description: Tassie may once have been seen as a sleepy backwater, but the island’s creative food scene now attracts chefs and tourists keen to try charcoal and blackcurrant cordial, dived-to-order sea urchins and sheep-whey vodka
encoded: Looking for places to eat in Tasmania? Read about our foodie road trip in Tasmania, including places to stay and eat in Hobart, Tasmania's riverside capital. It might be the gateway to Antarctica, but Hobart is hotter than Hades. Not in meteorological terms, of course – Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost state, is closer to Shetland in temperature than Sicily, but its culinary scene is sizzling. Whispers of the island’s lotus-eater pace of life and bountiful natural larder – from oysters and abalone plucked straight from the sea to wagyu beef and Cape Grim rainwater so clean they bottle it – has caused a stampede of hotshot chefs moving over from the mainland (read about Sarah Glover below). There’s plenty of homegrown Tasmanian talent too. This is an island of innovators and oddballs who love nothing more than to shake things up a little. Got some sheep? Lets make vodka from the sheep’s cheese whey. Whisky? Why not knock up a still in the barn and use a tumble dryer as a malting machine? Campfire cook up with Sarah Glover Instagram favourite Sarah Glover swapped life as a pastry chef in Sydney and New York to rediscover her culinary roots – and became a poster girl for outdoor cooking along the way – back on her home turf of Tasmania (her new cookbook, WILD, a collaboration with photographer Luisa Brimble, is part recipe collection, part adventure handbook). sarahglover.com.au Where to eat and drink in Hobart, Tasmania Faro at Mona (Museum of Old and New Art) Tasmania’s big-guns-blazing attraction is the creation of one man’s whimsy. David Walsh’s phenomenal art collection is wonderfully bonkers, irreverent and also home to one of the hottest tables in town, Faro (there’s a winery, Moorilla, next door for post-culture-vulture tastings; moorilla.com.au). Faro, the tapas bar and restaurant, is all brushed concrete, black tiles and huge picture windows looking out over the water. Sip a Night is Day, a black mocktail made with active charcoal, tonic water and homemade …

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Foodie road trip in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia
type: item
date: 2018-05-30T11:23:12.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Italy
subject: Europe
subject: Travel
description: Read our expert foodie guide to Friuli-Venezia-Giulia in Italy. Sandwiched between Vienna and Venice, and bordered by Slovenia, Austria and the Veneto, this corner of Italy has an eclectic food culture that spans tiramisu, apple strudel, nutty coffee, rustic ham-stuffed loaves and minerally white wines
encoded: Looking for things to do in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia? Read our expert foodie guide to Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Trieste, Italy. Including a guide to Trieste's Venezia and Collio wine region for Friuli wine... Where to eat and drink in Trieste A sour spat is raging over Italy’s most famous dessert. Who invented tiramisu? Those in the Veneto splutter that the dessert is theirs, created in Treviso in 1969. However, last summer the Italian government decreed that neighbouring Friuli-Venezia Giulia was the birthplace of the creamy, coffee laced concoction after cookery writers Gigi and Clara Padovani unearthed documents proving once and for all that tiramisu had been served in restaurants there since the 1950s. At Harry’s restaurant, cocooned within the Grand Hotel Duchi d’Aosta on stately Piazza Unita d’Italia in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia’s capital, I dip my spoon into a shot glass frothing with cocoa dusted whipped cream, plunging down to the icy shot of deep, dark espresso underneath. On the side is a slim wafer sandwich oozing creamy mascarpone custard. ‘Like a tiramisu’ is the tasting menu’s wishy-washy stance, the deconstructed dessert a surprise amid the heavy-draped, old-world elegance. But then, you’d expect a restaurant in the same stable as the Veneto’s infamous drinking den, Harry’s Bar in Venice, to sit on the fence. It’s all a bit of a storm in an espresso cup, the crema whipped up by hot air – or perhaps a blast of the bora wind, which whistles through this north-eastern corner of Italy. Trieste, once a grand maritime port, is sandwiched between Vienna (read our foodie guide to Vienna) and Venice (we've got the best places to eat and drink in Venice here) at one of the most strategically important crossroads in Europe. The region stretches from the Adriatic coast to the Alps (click here for the best foodie ski resorts in the Alps) via the vine-threaded hills of the Collio, and is bordered by Slovenia (check out some of the best restaurants in Slovenia here)…

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Melbourne foodie guide: where locals eat and drink
type: item
date: 2018-05-08T16:31:48.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Australasia
subject: Travel
description: Its multicultural make-up and an influx of pioneering chefs has helped Melbourne take the crown as Australia’s culinary capital. Whether you’re after cardamom and roast pistachio ice cream, a rooftop gin cocktail or whipped emu egg, the southeastern city caters for all
encoded: Want to know what to do in Melbourne? Read our foodie guide to where to eat, including the best restaurants in Melbourne. Melbourne food experiences If you want to find your foodie feet in Melbourne turn to Allan Campion. A chef turned food writer, with a library of cookbooks and food guides under his belt, Campion founded Melbourne Food Experiences in 2002. His food tours include the grazing and give you the lowdown on the secret spots you'd be mad to miss. Melbourne after Dark, for instance, steers you down tiny alleyways to some of the city's coolest cocktail bars, such as Union Electric's new rooftop gin bar, where the gin list includes Yarra Valley's Four Pillars - or go wild with a signature Lola cocktail, a heady ginger, gin, curacao and coconut cream concoction. melbournefoodexperiences.com.au The best coffee shops in Melbourne Where can you get a decent coffee in Melbourne? Cold-drip, AeroPress, siphon or espresso, flat white or long black? Coffee is king, customers are connoisseurs and baristas and micro-roasters are gods in Melbourne. This is the city that invented the flat white after all – or so they say (that's a latte with less milk and a smoother texture – it's all about the micro-bubbles). The roll call includes sleek, pared back Sensory Lab (which also holds barista classes), Market Lane (which roasts its own single origin beans and offers public cuppings - tastings) and Industry Beans (also famous for its bagels). marketlane.com.au; sensorylab.com.au; industrybeans.com Spring Street Grocer The Spring Street Grocer might sound like a local corner shop but it's not. Upstairs it's a gourmet food store but most miss the spiral staircase down to the extraordinary cheese cellar – and Australia's first underground cheese maturation rooms, where regular cheese tastings and workshops are held. Try Holy Goat artisan cheeses from Sutton Grange organic farm – Black Silk is a tangy, ash-coated, fresh curd pyramid. There's also a bakery and espresso bar and, on…

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Foodie road trip in Chiang Mai, Thailand
type: item
date: 2017-10-13T14:12:58.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Asia
subject: Travel
description: This multicultural city, in Thailand’s mountainous north, showcases the region’s distinctive cooking style in dishes such as sesame soft-shell crab tempura and fiery roast duck curry
encoded: Looking for things to do in Chiang Mai? Read our expert guide to the best restaurants and foodie experiences in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand's distinctive cooking region. When visiting Chiang Mai expect tom yum soups, roast ducks and sticky rice, and plenty of rich curries and broths. Now discover 10 things we love about Thai cuisine. Back in the 13th century Chiang Mai was the capital of the Lanna Kingdom. Sandwiched between Burma to the west, Siam to the south, China to the north and Laos to the east, it was a tropical – and fertile – independent mountain state. Over the centuries this ancient kingdom, with its Buddhist temples, towering teak forests and verdant vegetation, was fought over, invaded and eventually swallowed by Siam, which, in the middle of the 20th century, became Thailand. Today, what was once a remote mountain kingdom is, less romantically, the northern corner of Thailand. Some things don’t change. Lanna means ‘land of a million paddy fields’ and the landscape is still swathed in a shimmering shawl of emerald green while, in the markets, stalls are stacked with sacks of rice. Sticky rice, or khao niaow, is to be pinched between your fingers and eaten with nam prik – spicy dipping sauces. Unsurprisingly, Lanna cuisine is a melting pot of flavours. The typical central and southern Thai staples of coconut milk and palm sugar were not readily available in the highlands. Instead the larder was stocked with roots and shoots, snakes, wild game and grubs from the jungle, the signature flavours sour and earthy. Even the rice here dances to its own tune. “Sticky rice is soaked overnight then cooked in steam, not water,” chef Thiwawan – “call me Yiu” – tells me as we meander around the smart San Sai market. The clear white grains are what we would think of as normal rice, she explains; the short, fat, creamy grains are sticky rice. “You can also get black sticky rice. There are more vitamins in the black shell, but not everyone likes the crunchy texture.” …

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The Dunstane Houses, Edinburgh: hotel review
type: item
date: 2017-08-30T11:45:22.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: Travel Scotland
subject: UK
subject: Travel
description: We review the Dunstane Houses, a newly refurbished hotel set between two grand old buildings in Edinburgh where you can sink into sleek copper bathtubs, feast on haggis bonbons with whisky mustard mayo and sip a gin, rhubarb and pepper tonic
encoded: Looking for hotels in Edinburgh? Check out our expert review of Edinburgh hotel, The Dunstane Houses. The Dunstane houses is one of Edinburgh's best boutique hotels. Expect vintage pieces with contemporary design, bags of personality and, signature gin cocktails. Orkney-born Shirley and Derek Mowat left the northerly archipelago for London in 1988 but screeched to a halt in the Scottish capital, opening their first guesthouse in Edinburgh’s Trinity neighbourhood. Now their latest venture has just opened in the same city, The Dunstane Houses. Set back off a busy road on the way into – or out of – Edinburgh, Dunstane Houses is a two-for-the-price-of-one boutique hotel made up of Dunstane House, a rambling Victorian mansion designed by architect William Playfair in 1852, and its equally stately sister property, Hampton House, across the road. Both are just a ten-minute stroll from the city's West End. Re-launched this summer, the million pound refurbishment was orchestrated by London-based interior designer Hannah Lohan whose portfolio includes Foxhill Manor and The Fish in the Cotswolds and La Escondida, Terry Venables' boutique hotel in Spain. Lohan mixes vintage pieces with contemporary design and, for Dunstane House, she has seamlessly woven in the Mowats' Orkney heritage, peppering rooms with traditional tweeds and historic black and white photographs of island life (elsewhere, the hotel's Edinburgh and Orkney-themed art collection has been curated by local artist Nicky Brooks, from the Red Door Gallery in the city’s Old Town). The overall impression is the antithesis of an anonymous boutique hotel. Dunstane House has bags of personality and personal touches. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, returning guests are greeted like old friends. It feels like the perfect hybrid: a cosy family-run guesthouse and a sumptuous small hotel. The food at Dunstane Houses With no traditional hotel restaurant the dining options are relaxed. An all-day dining menu (well, 12-9…

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Foodie road trip in Uzes, France
type: item
date: 2017-06-26T15:19:25.000Z
creator: Lucy Gillmore
subject: France
subject: Europe
subject: Travel
description: Explore this quieter corner of southern France and you’ll be rewarded with fresh liquorice tisanes, slow-cooked lamb, flaky fougasse filled with anchovies and olives… and gummy bears
encoded: Our expert guide to the best restaurants, cafes and bars in the beautiful town of Uzes in southern France. In this authentically French town you will find picholine olives, local asparagus and focaccia-style bread filled with anchovies and olives. Now find out the best hotels in Paris. Slow travel doesn’t get more quintessentially French than puttering down a dirt track fringed with fields of apricots and vines in a Citroën 2CV, the roof down, a Panama-wearing guide at the wheel. I had followed my nose to the Gard, in the Occitane region, on the western edge of Provence, but now that I was here my nose was twitching with sensory overload. Pungent truffles and gummy bears? Just two of the more unusual ingredients on the menu in Uzès, one of those achingly pretty French towns whose Chocolat-style looks make it seem like a Hollywood film set. Indeed, its plane-tree-pricked Place aux Herbes once starred in the Gérard Depardieu movie Cyrano de Bergerac. Uzès is surrounded by truffle plantations and hosts a truffle festival every January, while confectionary giant Haribo opened Le Musée du Bonbon here in 1996. The company is synonymous with the gummy bears invented by German founder Hans Riegel in 1920, but it’s liquorice that is Uzès’ traditional industry. Liquorice has been produced here since the 18th century. Today, spindly liquorice plants line the entrance to the museum and even the air outside is laced with a sugary sweetness. Your ticket comes with a bag of sweets to suck as you wander from room to room learning about the history of sugar and the candy-making process before ‘nosing’ some of the ingredients. Pressing a button releases a puff of vanilla, cacao or liquorice into the air. At the end of the Willy Wonka-style experience there’s a shop where you can stock up on your favourite sweets. This less well-known corner of France is just 40 minutes from Avignon, where you can jump off the Eurostar as it hurtles on to Marseilles. Once here the pace is far more lei…

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